Functionalism and Caprice in Stonecutting. The Case of the Nativity Chapel in Burgos Cathedral

Abstract

Starting from the inaugural text of Philibert de L'Orme, stereotomic treatises and manuscripts are
subject to the opposing forces of reason and fancy. The Nativity Chapel in Burgos Cathedral provides an
outstanding case study on this subject. It was built in 1571-1582 by Martín de Bérriz and Martín de la Haya,
using an oval vault resting on trumpet squinches to span a rectangular bay. Bed joints and rib axes are not
planar curves, as usual in oval vaults. This warping is not capricious; we shall argue that it is the outcome of a
systematic tracing method. As a result of this process, the slope of the bed joints increases slightly in the first
courses, but stays fairly constant after the third course; this solution prevents the upper courses from slipping.
Thus, in the Nativity Chapel of Burgos Cathedral, the constraints of masonry construction fostered a singular
solution verging on capriccio. It is also worthwhile to remark that the warping of the joints is not easily
appreciable to the eye and that the tracing process does not seem to start from a previous conception of the
resulting form. All this suggests that we should be quite careful when talking about the whimsical character of
Late Gothic and Early Renaissance; in some occasions, apparent caprice is the offspring of practical thinking.